Student Space Programs Laboratory - Flight Programs

HASP 2011 Proposal Accepted

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:52:39 -0500

SSPL's proposal for the OSIRIS Lite 2 (O2) payload on HASP 2011 has been accepted!

HASP provides the opportunity for student payloads to fly at the edge of space to support science and technology development missions. The payload this year is a continuation of SSPL's OSIRIS CubeSat development program where the complete spacecraft bus will be demonstrated in the flight form factor.

OLite Thermal Testing

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:37:00 -0400

The thermal team concluded a ~24 hour thermal vacuum test of OLite this morning. For the test, OLite was exposed to temperatures as low as -20 degrees C while operating as is expected during the HASP Balloon flight. Preliminary data shows that temperatures inside OLite got as low as -10 degrees C on the COMM FPGA while staying around 10 degrees C on the RF power amplifier.

Congratulations to the entire OLite team for successfully surviving the simulated balloon flight.

OSIRIS Lite 2 (O2) Mission Concept Review

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:50:00 -0400

The OLite 2 team had their first major design review yesterday when they presented their mission concept review to a review panel consisting of Dr. Sven Bilen (Associate Professor Electrical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, PSU), Robert Capuro (Retiree, Honeywell Inc.), and Michael Paul (PSU Applied Research Laboratory). Many thanks to the review team for their questions and comments during the review. The team will be working to address these comments as they move forward designing through to the PDR, scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving.

Thank you reviewers and congratulations to the O2 Team.

The review material can be found here or by request to the O2 Project Manager Allen Kummer, atk5025@psu.edu

OLite Comm System Range Test

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 19:08:00 -0400

The Comm and Ground Station teams completed a rangetestyesterday, stretching about .8 miles along Curtin Road. They expect that the range was limited dueto obstructions like trees and cars along the line of sight. Further testing using attenuators is planned to simulate pass loss.

OLite Comm System Update

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:27:50 -0400

While the ground station was being tested on the roof, the flight communications team, responsible for designing, building and testing the flight radio, was busy with their own test in the lab. The team was able to demonstrate today bench top communications from the flight radio to the mobile ground station paving the way for some field range testing and integration with the OLite system over the course of the next month.

Ground Station Update

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:21:19 -0400

Josh Miller demonstrated today the ground station's ability to receive voice information from a satellite. At approximately 3:20 today the Saudisat 1C relay satellite passed over State College and the ground station was able to listen in on a conversation between two amateur radio operators. This is the first step being taken towards the goal of a working satellite ground station capable of supporting the OSIRIS CubeSat. Satellite relay contacts like this will be used to test the ground station's tracking algorithms as well as radio functionality in the coming months.

Solar Cell Array Completed

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:59:00 -0400

Last weekend the solar cell array for the OSIRIS CubeSat was built. Here are some images of Allen and Matt in the lab.

It's Alive! CanSat Underway Again!

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Here is a clip of the lastest progress with CanSat.

HEMI Flight Completed

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:51:05 -0400

The flight of the HASP (High Altitude Student Platform) balloon carrying SSPL's HEMI (High Energy Monitoring Instrument) has concluded successfully. This flight brings HEMI one step closer in the development of the instrument for flight on the proposed NASA spacecraft, JANUS. Congratulations to everyone involved.

HASP Balloon Flight

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:13:39 -0400

EDIT 9/17/08: This flight has ended and the video link is no longer valid.

LIVE:

SSPL’s prototype of the HEMI instrument launched from Ft. Sumner on a high altitude balloon this morning.

A live webcast is being broadcast at: http://laspace.lsu.edu/HASP/video/cosmocam.html

The flight will last approximately 20 hours; Quick-look science data should be available shortly after the flight.

Congratulations to the HEMI team!

NittanySat GNC member awarded the Internship Student of the Year Award

nospam@example.com (News & Events) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:00:00 -0400

Kenneth Getzandanner, Junior Aerospace Engineering and member of the NittanySat GNC team was awarded the Engineering Co-Op Student of the Year Award today for his work at Honeywell Technology Solutions modeling satellites orbiting the Earth, Moon and Mars.

Congratulations for your achievements at Honeywell, Ken!